Police Taskforce Wayward arrests 197 people in under 18 months for carjackings and home invasions
A SPECIAL taskforce has made almost 200 arrests over violent carjackings and home invasions that terrorised residents in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
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MORE than 70 suspects have been identified as “persons of interest” in ongoing investigations into violent carjackings and home invasions that have terrorised residents in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
The Herald Sun can reveal 31 suspects are currently in jail and 47 are being monitored by a special police taskforce.
Detectives from Taskforce Wayward arrested three teenagers in raids last week after a boy was robbed of his mobile phone by a group who got off a bus in Keilor Downs.
The taskforce, established in March 2017 to crack down on home invasions, carjackings and armed robberies, has made 197 arrests so far.
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Detectives are hunting four youths of African appearance over an aggravated home invasion in Tarneit on August 17 in which a 34-year-old woman’s car was stolen.
She parked her car in the garage of her Habitat Crt home about 8.20pm and was followed indoors by youths who ransacked the home. One brandishing a machete punched the woman in her face and demanded the keys to her Hyundai Elantra sedan.
Commander Tim Hansen said 31 of the 78 persons of interest police were monitoring had been locked up.
When Taskforce Wayward was established, investigators had more than 100 listed.
Cdr Hansen said no arrests had been made over an incident in Taylors Hill this month in which a large group of African Australian youths damaged a police car, sparking emergency calls from residents.
“Apart from damage to a police car no specific offences were detected on the night by police or identified after,” he said. Police believe the group was largely made up of females and schoolchildren.
Following the Keilor Downs robbery on August 19, police arrested two boys aged 15 and one boy aged 16.
Cdr Hansen said Taskforce Wayward “has been a really successful capability for Victoria Police”.
“We are also proactively engaging with the persons of interest and their families to make sure support services try and prevent the offending,” he said.
Cdr Hansen said the 78 were split into three categories — extreme, very high and moderate. There was a mix of caucasians and African Australians.
“There is no getting away from it that in this crime category there is an over representation of African Australians,” he said.